New vehicle registrations for January show mixed results, the first sign that carmakers have reason to pause after years of year-on-year record numbers.

Overall registrations of 13,938 units were short around 900 vehicles compared with a January 2018. Passenger cars and SUVs were down almost 8.0 per cent and commercials 1.0 per cent .

Motor Industry Association (MIA) chief executive David Crawford said the market had softened. “The economic environment that existed this time last year and before that has begun to fundamentally change, albeit slowly,” he said.

“However, levels of new vehicle sales, while softer than this time last year, remain at historically high levels.”

The January result supports Crawford’s summation, but there were some notable up-and-down shifts in individual registrations compared with the same month last year.

Mitsubishi registered 1248 new vehicles, up 32.0 per cent on 2018 and its best January result since 1986. Of the 1248 units, 445 were commercial Triton utes (pictured above). Mitsubishi’s 803 passenger units were up 28.0 per cent on 626 last year. Mitsubishi also registered 400 rentals – 225 ASX, 125 Outlander, 50 Pajero Sport. It had zero rentals in January 2018.

Longtime market leader Toyota’s 2312 overall passenger and commercial registrations were down 30 per cent on the 3270 in January last year. Its passenger car regos slumped 31.0 per cent (2490-1718) and its commercials 24.0 per cent (780-594). Toyota’s rentals plummeted 40.0 per cent (1416-846).

Ford was down almost 10.0 per cent overall on January last year (1654-1494). Its passenger cars were down 28.0 per cent (846-606), but commercials were up 10.0 per cent (808-888). Ford’s rentals were zero last month against 364 (Focus, Ecosport, Escape, Mondeo) in January 2018.

Holden dropped around 10.0 per cent overall (1162-1042). Its passenger cars were down 11.0 per cent (777-689) and commercials down 8.0 per cent (385-353). Holden registered 202 rentals last month (126 Commodore, 51 Trax, 25 Acadia). Its rentals were down 11.0 per cent on the 227 in 2018.

Mazda last month was up overall 1.5 per cent (1215-1197). Its passenger vehicles were up 2.6 per cent (1052-1025) but commercials were down 5.0 per cent (172-163). Its rentals last month hiked 37.0 per cent (244-165) on January 2018.

Other January 2019 results on January 2018:

Kia down 7.0 per cent (762-710), Nissan up 0.1 per cent (707-708), Hyundai up 1.5 per cent (617-627), Suzuki up 0.1 per cent (596-597), Volkswagen up 1.7 per cent (465-473), Honda down 14.0 per cent (524-450), Subaru up 11.6 per cent (342-382), Mercedes-Benz up 35.0 per cent (245-331).

Benz is the luxury high-flyer: Its passenger car sales alone were up 31.0 per cent (188-247). Rival BMW’s were down 30.0 per cent (187-130). Audi’s numbers would have been below BMW’s. Land Rover appeared among the top 15 passenger nameplates for the first time with 179 registrations.

Rental vehicle registrations last month were down 22 per cent on January 2018. The top 15 nameplates last year accounted for 2212 vehicles – the top 15 last month totaled 1718.

Of last month’s 13,938 registrations, 43.6 per cent (6078) were SUVs; 21.8 per cent (3050) were 4×4/4×2 cab chassis utes; 25.2 per cent (3513) were passenger cars; 1.2 per cent (177) were sports cars; and 0.5 per cent (78) were people-movers.

Alastair Sloane has been a newspaper journalist for more than 40 years. He was the motoring editor of the New Zealand Herald for 16 years from 1996 until 2012. He owns a 1968 VW Beetle. Best days at the wheel include doing part of the Land Rover Camel Trophy route in Papua New Guinea, driving a Nissan Patrol over earthquake-hit roads in Guatemala, and a Ferrari Italia on Enzo’s old hill-climb road in Italy.

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